creative practice, musings on theory, and sparks of inspiration

“Udel Nadani” – Czech Documentary Opportunity (Continues 4)

Just returned to Bournemouth today, here’s a recap of the rest of the events on my trip….

On March 23rd (Tuesday) I travelled to Zlin which took about 3-4 hours each way, there and back. Soon after noon I reached Zlin and met the documentary maker for the interview. The interview lasted a surprising four hours and took place in her home. I came prepared with my laptop to show my work and a collection of photos I had taken from photo albums on Sunday and Monday (my preparation days). Right from the start she was very friendly and tried to make me comfortable around her despite and her tape recorder, and set a very informal mood. I think that my success or failure in this interview greatly depended on her. I had prepared to either pitch a little intro about myself, or to potentially let her lead the conversation, depending on what the situation required. Something that can transfer quite well to the type of meetings you can get in the industry. Or more immediately, what may happen in my MA interviews! So this is like a warm-up round to those but in a different language, which makes it twice as challenging for me. I think that if I can accomplish this, it will put my mind to rest a bit about handling MA interviews in London.

She took charge and off the bat outlined how she would like the interview to proceed. She reiterated a few key points again about what he documentary was and basically set out the main theme: that I should image I am directing it, how would I do it, what would I film? This was the general guideline we returned back to time and time again after following tangents or just letting the conversation develop – impromptu questions and so on.

I think that we truly had an understanding and that her vision for her documentary gelled very well with what I brought to the table. By the end we were simply chatting like friends, the fact that it was an interview was almost forgotten. The interview ended the way I had predicted. She could not give me a yes or no answer right away because there were still other interviews she needed to conduct first in order to bring the auditions to a close.

Nonetheless on the trip back I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. I thought that no matter what happened from here on out, I had really had a personal breakthrough. This had been my first ever professional-ish interview in Czech!!! I also believe that I had completely outshone my expectation of myself. I felt I had truly put in 110%, defying the odds and obstacles, and simply giving my best. Wednesday was simply a recuperation and packing day and then on Thursday I was travelling again, this time back to Bournemouth.